Open Thread: 3/15 Camp Notes

The Yankees beat the Nationals today by the score of 8-5. Michael Pineda allowed two runs and struck out four in 3.2 IP before reaching his pitch count (video), and his fastball was sitting right around 90 mph and topping out at 92 [Marc Carig]. He said he only threw about ten changeups, but it felt like a ton more than that, particularly with no one on base. He got a few swings and misses with it (and at least one ground ball), and his slider was stupid good for the most part. Neither Pineda nor Russell Martin think much of the velocity, but the right-hander was pretty thrilled about the changeup. [JaysonStark]

Bill Hall (2-for-3) doubled off the wall to the opposite field to drive in a pair, and Justin Maxwell went 2-for-2 in garbage time. Jose Gil also drove in two with a single in his only at-bat. Brett Gardner went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, and he must have seen 20 pitches in the process. He was fouling off everything it seemed. Clay Rapada walked a left-handed batter after getting ahead in the count 0-2, which is a definite no-no. Brett Marshall threw the best 2.1 IP of two-run ball you’ll ever see, I thought he looked very good. Here’s the box score, and here’s the rest from the day in Tampa…

Freddy Garcia has a big wrap on his right hand but says it’s just a bad bruise. He thinks he’s only going to miss a few days after getting hit by an Edwin Encarnacion comebacker yesterday, but who knows. [MarcCarig]

Joba Chamberlain will throw 50 pitches in the bullpen tomorrow, with the last ten being sliders. No, they’re not stretching him out to be a starter, it’s all about building arm strength at this point. [George King]

Austin Romine took some dry swings today, the first time he’s done anything with a bat since hurting his back earlier in camp. He’s still a week away from full workouts. [Carig]

Ramiro Pena left today’s game with a sore ankle after sliding into second awkwardly while attempting to steal a base in the fourth. There are no tests planned. Martin is fine following the collision with Wang you see above. Here’s video if you want to see what happened. [Carig, Carig]

D.J. Mitchell broke out a new cutter during his three stellar innings yesterday, though apparently he started working on it last year. Boone Logan has also been focusing on a changeup during side sessions, which is a pitch he threw a while ago but has since scrapped as a reliever. George Kontos (live batting practice), Ivan Nova and David Phelps (bullpens) threw today. [Chad Jennings]

Here is your open thread for the night. All three hockey locals are in action tonight, plus MLB Network will be airing a game a little later tonight. You folks all know what to do by now, so have at it.

To be fair, I found an article with the headline that Cashman was concerned, but Cashman saying he didn’t know what to make of it.

DM

If you watched the game, you can see it was sliders, 2-seamers and change-ups. He barely threw the 4-seam upstairs. He’s not letting it go yet.

jonathan c.

I was at the game against the Braves and it was the same thing then. Tons of offspeed stuff.

DM

I didn’t see every last pitch but he was slider heavy today. And he didn’t have great command in the zone — esp with the fastball. I can see how he got away with 2 pitches last year. If you pair that slider with a 95+ heat, he’s like Joba when he first came up as a reliever. And I guess he’s big and strong enough to maintain that for 6-7 innings instead of 1. He doesn’t even need a great changeup — just enough to keep the hitters honest.

Bryan__from NZ

FB: fly ball

Havok9120

Today there were quite a few more grounders than I was expecting, including one or two off the changeup. That’s all I really noticed today. I haven’t been overly concerned which watching his fly ball % because, well, its ST and it hasn’t been a problem yet. At all. I’ve yet to noticed a huge number of flyballs during his handful of innings.

*shrug*

Michael

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Tom

I wonder what Carig was using for his readings and if it was the gun they were using on the MASN telecast (which I assume is the stadium gun?). If folks are going to continue to report on velocity they should start mentioning what they are using as their source (a trusted scout, group of scouts, stadium scoreboard gun, TV telecast)

I saw about 5-6 innings of the game and don’t think I saw a single pitch over 92mph.

I also thought Brett Marshall looked good… his breaking stuff seemed a bit inconsistent at times (not sure if it was slider or curve, or slurve?), but at times it looked pretty damn good. Mark Newman over at Fangraphs seems pretty high on him.

Havok9120

Yeah, I also didn’t see any over 92, though I only watched through 5 or 6.

Someone (Marchand) said he was sitting at like 91 and touching higher. Dunno what he was using.

Sarah

The stadium gun was low. They said so on the telecast and the radio.

Tom

Thanks… must have missed that comment on the telecast

It seemed pretty obvious to me that the gun was “slow” when there was no pitcher capable of hitting 93 and very few getting to 91-92; you’d think Carig might have picked up on it; but I guess reporting a max of 92mph on twitter feeds the narrative/hysteria better.

Tyrone Sharpton

lets cut the cheese on this. pineda’s velocity is very concerning at this point.

Needed Pitching

nope

Robinson Tilapia

Not in the least.

Jesse

Whatever you say, Marchand.

Jim Is Bored

That’s not what cut the cheese means.

AC

Let’s say Pineda is damaged goods. Did SEA have to disclose anything before trade? Unless he’s holding back why is he only around 90-91 when last year he was 97. I’m sure the V-lo will increase over time but I was just mentioning a point

Tyrone Sharpton

this is do to the guys conditioning. all those burritos and crap that he’s been eating made him less athletic. when he throws the ball, the extra weight in his right buttock create resistance, therefore lowering his velocity. trade him for a hard working, evangelical white christian starter.

Zanath

Wow

Brian

Can someone block him for being an ignorant troll.

Robinson Tilapia

Sometimes, you actually have something to say, which makes these digressions ridiculous.

Genghis

That was so over-the-top, it had to be satire. C’mon guys.

Jim Is Bored

If satire isn’t funny, clever, or relevant, it’s worthy of the same criticism as shitty non-satire.

Can’t be racist against white people if you are white, which pretty sure everyone on here suspects you actually are. But, your disgusting caricature of a black male is racist; so at least your being honest on that front.

Steve D

Anyone know who is pitching tomorrow? Thank you.

CANO FAN #1

CC i thing

Monterowasdinero

Looks like Martin has lost weight. Good for him. As for Pineda-I haven’t seen any of his ST appearances but I am not worried. It would be nice if he is learning to save the high octane fb till the later innings as Verlander is able to do. Work on everything else in ST. Strikeouts are great but getting them when really needed in a game is better.

pistol pete

Nice to see Ibanez off to a great start 2 for 24 and 083. He’s the latest version of Randy Winn and Nick Johnson. Why waste $1m and all these at bats on an over the hill one dimensional player. I’d rather give Dickerson and Nunez the extra at bats. Plus they can both run and defend. Ibanez will be gone by June 1st. If the Yanks truly only want to spend a million on a dh and all you’re going to get is an over the hill guy why waste the roster spot. Split the at bats with Nunez Wilkerson and Jones. Ibanez is a waste of time.

CP

Wasn’t Thames similarly bad a few years ago in spring training?

The stats really mean nothing.

Robinson Tilapia

Between the ridiculous Pineda trolling and this, this is beginning to feel like the proud parents at LoHud dropped off their toddlers here.

RkyMtnYank

This was also different back in the days when spring training wasn’t the actual start of the season.

JobaWockeeZ

Ironically they are all better posters that you who must attack everyone. Go ahead use another PS3 insult or do something else in your circlejerk.

Robinson Tilapia

Lovely.

Plank

Why do you always use the circle jerk imagery?

Plank

Here is evidence of the false narrative you are constantly trying to create.

anyone interested in an NL only fantasy baseball league? I didn’t join the “official” River Ave Blues fantasy leagues because I only do NL only so I don’t have to draft Red Sox players. And my league has a few spots open.

Its a pretty casual league on line auction on Sunday, March 25th 6PM eastern

email me at neoforce att.net if interested

RkyMtnYank

You shun the whole AL over the RedSox in favor of the NL, interesting.

Neo

It’s a bit more complicated than that just easier to explain that way. I don’t ever want to root against the Yankees. This way it’s only an issue during inter league play

Brian

What can we get for Maxwell? He is out of options and the Yankees prolly are not going to carry him north.

Robinson Tilapia

Someone of probably lesser use.

Havok9120

I agree, but I said the same about Dickerson. I still don’t get what happened there.

DM

Nothing (maybe not literally, but no more than another AAAA bit player or cast-off that’s easy to grab from another team) — just like Dickerson. They were acquired for the same (nothing or someone like Mitre). I doubt either will be with the organization going forward. They might have more of an affinity for Dickerson b/c they once tried to draft him — but guys like these are usually available on the waiver wire or for a minor-level deal. I don’t think it was a MLB goof that Dickerson cleared. Someone could call the Yankees today and offer some AAAA lefty reliever to get him. He’s a used extra part — plenty of them around the game — fine for depth but easily replaced. I’m sure Cashman will find more of the same at garage sales during the season. Easy come, easy go.

J. Scott

InRe: Gun readings from today’s game.

Henry Rodriquez pitched the ninth for the Nats and was hitting 97-98 consistently with the FB. Hell, he struck out JR Murphy with an 88 MPH change-up. These readings came off the MASN telecast via MLBTV.

Tom

Believe it or not the #’s you quote are probably consistent with the gun being a few mph’s slow.

Rodriguez’ averaged 90.5 on his changeup last year, so 88 is actually a few mph’s low.

And his average fastball speed last year was a little over 98 (and ~99 the previous 2 years), If he was hitting 97-98 consistently, and had a few FB’s below that, again that is probably consistent with a slow gun as hard as that is to believe. He actually hit 99-101mph in most of his appearances last year (not consistently on every FB, but fairly frequently)

forensic

If anyone is curious about Gardner (since it was mentioned specifically, it’s late and I’m moderately bored…):

So, 18 pitches, 7 foul balls. Hey, the pitches seen are fine and all, but geez even the foul balls were weak.

DM

I was going to mention the same — but my asbestos suit is at the cleaners. The irony is that Mark DeRosa was talking to the guys in the booth about “two strike hitting”, “protecting the plate” and “putting the ball in play” during one of those ABs — talking about himself, not Gardner, I mean. I wish Gardner had the ear piece at the time rather the commentators who called Brett a “contact hitter” who’s tough to strikeout. I guess having that perception of him from afar is forgivable — but others who are much closer feel the same way for some reason.

sevrox

What is it about ‘players work on sh*t during Spring Training’ don’t you folks get? Freakin’ ponderous.

Peter North

Could the Yanks get an extra year of control if they sent Pineda to the minors for a month, using the excuse to “work on some stuff” like the change-up and (dare I say it) fastball velocity? If so, would this be a good idea?

MannyGeee

i think SeligCo frowns on this sort of thing.

Didnt someone win a greivence over this sorta stuff against the Twins over the winter?

Plank

He’s at 1.000 years so if they sent him down for any length they would get an extra year of team control. Teams do it all the time.

noseeum

I wonder if the Angels can get an extra year out of Pujols by sending him down.

Yes, that’s a ridiculous statement. It’s just as ridiculous with Pineda. The guy was an All Star as a rookie, and he very well could be the Yankees’ number two starter. You don’t send a guy like that down just to save some service time, especially when you’re the richest team in baseball.

So no, this would not be a good idea.

Plank

Pujols cant be sent down.

Teams sacrifice today for big gains tomorrow all the time. It’s the basis of most trades. Losing a cost controlled start or two this year for 35 cost controlled starts in 5 years would be making a small sacrifice this year for big benefits in the future. It’s not that absurd.

http://jukeofurl.wordpress.com Juke Early

If Pineda turns into a pitcher & not some ahole who throws balls through a wall, that would be great. That rearing back & firing gets these guy hurt. As for anything and I mean anything Selig likes? F him with a big bold capital F. He is systematically trying to neuter the Yankees. He’s clever about it too — he won’t live long enough to see how it affects MLB revenues, when “parity” takes over MLB. Short sighted gimp in a bad suit.